Release:TOPEKA, KAN. – According to Mary Cook, she stops at the same store on her way to work every day to buy a Diet Coke and a couple of instant scratch tickets. Because of the hot, sunny weather we’re having, Cook was inspired today to make one of her purchases a $2 Sunny Money ticket.

“It’s a sunny day – let’s have some Sunny Money – that’s exactly what I told the clerk when I bought the ticket,” said the 51-year-old nurse from Kansas City, Kansas.

Not only was the sun shining, Cook found Lady Luck shining on her when she scratched her Sunny Money ticket and uncovered a $10,000 top prize.

“I looked at it and I thought, ‘Surely this can’t be right,’” Cook said. “So I gave the ticket to the clerk, and sure enough, I really had won $10,000.”

Cook said she then went into work, told her boss she needed the day off to do something important and drove straight to Topeka to claim her winning ticket.

“I’m so happy,” she said. “This is a real blessing.”

Cook told Lottery officials she would use the prize money for home improvements and also to make Christmas extra special this year.

Cook is the mother of three daughters, including a set of identical twins, and also has 10 grandchildren. She has been an LPN for 31 years and works at Life Care Center of Kansas.

The lucky ticket was purchased at Cook’s favorite store: Conoco Short Stop 103, located at 308 N. 18th Street in Kansas City, Kansas.

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